Rama Ekadashi Vrat Katha · रमा एकादशी व्रत कथा

Krishna told Yudhishthira that this Ekadashi is called Rama, and that it destroys even the greatest sins.

King Muchukunda was a devotee of Vishnu, true to his word. His daughter Chandrabhaga was married to Shobhan, the son of Chandrasena. Once Shobhan came to stay at his father-in-law's home just before Ekadashi, and on the day before (Dashami) the king had it proclaimed throughout the kingdom that no one was to eat on Ekadashi.

Shobhan, who could not bear hunger, asked his wife what to do. Chandrabhaga told him that in her father's kingdom no one eats on Ekadashi, not even the animals; if he stayed, he must fast. Shobhan resolved to keep the fast, whatever might come of it. But the fast was too much for him, and he died at sunrise. The king performed his funeral rites, and Chandrabhaga went on living in her father's house.

By the power of the Rama Ekadashi fast, Shobhan won a divine city on the mountain Mandarachala, as splendid as Indra's. One day a brahmin named Somasharma from Muchukunda's city, on pilgrimage, came there and recognised him. Shobhan told him that the city was the fruit of the Rama Ekadashi fast, but because he had kept it without faith, it was not lasting. He asked the brahmin to tell Chandrabhaga.

When she heard, Chandrabhaga longed to see her husband and said she would make the city lasting by her own merit. Somasharma took her to the ashram of the sage Vamadeva near Mandarachala. By the sage's mantras and the power of her Ekadashi fasts, her body became divine, and she joined her husband, who seated her at his left side. She told him that she had kept every Ekadashi since the age of eight; by that merit the city became lasting, and the two lived there happily.

Krishna said that this Ekadashi fulfils every wish.

Rama Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight (Krishna paksha) of Kartika in the purnimanta calendar (the dark fortnight of Ashvin in the amanta calendar used in western and southern India). Its story belongs to the series in which each Ekadashi's glory is told, often as Krishna's answer to the Pandavas. It falls a few days before Diwali, and its name, Rama, is a name of Lakshmi.

The published versions are in Hindi prose and differ in wording and in some names and details. The retelling above keeps only what at least two of the versions linked below agree on. For this year's date, see Ekadashi.

The katha is read or heard on Rama Ekadashi as part of the worship of Vishnu. Customs vary by family and region.